NDP MP Leah Gazan is sponsoring a Commons petition calling on cabinet to scrap its six-month-old advisory against non-essential travel to Cuba despite continuing shortages of fuel, food, water and medicine on the island.Blacklock's Reporter says the petition comes after MasterCard and Visa suspended transactions in Cuba, forcing Canadian travellers to rely on cash.Petition E-7649 asks cabinet to “lift the government’s advisory against non-essential travel to Cuba and expand opportunities for tourism and trade.”The Department of Foreign Affairs issued the advisory Feb. 11 after severe fuel shortages prompted Canadian airlines to suspend flights to Cuba.“Canada and Cuba have maintained unbroken diplomatic and cultural ties for over 80 years with Canadian tourists accounting for over one third of the island’s international visitors each year,” petitioners wrote.Petitioners also criticized the longstanding U.S. embargo against Cuba, describing it as a “unilateral economic blockade.”MasterCard and Visa suspended all transactions in Cuba on June 6, prompting the federal government to update its travel advice.“You should carry sufficient cash,” the advisory said.Foreign Affairs also warned Canadians of “worsening shortages of fuel, electricity and basic necessities including food, water and medicine.”The department said tourists staying at resorts should not assume they will be insulated from the shortages.“Resorts may be affected by shortages of basic necessities which can impact the availability of products and public services such as food,” said the advisory.The petition was written by Toronto resident Samantha Hislop, co-chair of the Canadian Network on Cuba, a group supportive of the Cuban government.Hislop told a Commons international human rights subcommittee June 15 that the decline in tourism has hurt employment and reduced the amount of foreign currency entering Cuba.“With the loss of tourism to Cuba this year a lot of people are out of work and there’s a lack of foreign currency coming in,” testified Hislop.“Private businesses are severely affected so people don’t have money to purchase food. It’s very difficult.”.Hislop criticized Ottawa's response and called for greater Canadian involvement.“We are very disappointed in the Canadian government which is standing idly by and basically being silent about what’s happening,” she said.“Canada needs to step up and lead. Otherwise we are complicit in what is happening.”Cuban Ambassador Rodrigo Diaz also blamed the country's fuel problems for disrupting Canada's tourism links with the island.“The lack of jet fuel prevents us from providing refueling service to international airlines,” Diaz told the Commons foreign affairs committee Feb. 24.“As a result, Canadian airlines have suspended their flights to Cuba and thousands of tourists have been affected.”Diaz said Canadian businesses with interests in Cuba have also been affected by the tourism downturn.“There are Canadian companies with hotels in Cuba and there are Canadian companies transporting tourists to Cuba,” he said.“We now have this situation but we hope this will be over at some point. We will try to normalize relations in the tourism sector.”The decline in tourism has contributed to a five-point drop in Cuba's gross domestic product, according to the University of Havana's Centre for Studies of the Cuban Economy.
